If anyone speaks of a "spiritual path," know that they are asleep.
Is there a path to awakening? Do you decide, "Now I will take the path to awakening; I'll wake up in about five minutes; or perhaps by 5 o'clock this afternoon; or maybe in five life times"? This is the talk of a mad man, or somebody who doesn't want to get out of bed.
The moment you are aware that you have been dreaming, you are awake. It takes no time at all. Awakening has nothing to do with time: it has to do with where you choose to rest your attention.
"The spiritual path" is an invention of the mind who would rather persist in dreaming the future than risk Now. Are we ready for the motionless explosion of Now? Are we ready to live on the cutting edge of eternity, where the past and future do not exist?
Enclosed in the gray armor of thought, our daily life is constantly one step away from reality. We do not live Life: we live a commentary on Life. Spirituality means awakening from this gray dream, this vapor of concepts about the world. What is remarkable about this dream is that it has the same unsatisfactory ghost-like quality for the rich and the poor, the movie-star and the telephone operator. What ever we may do to improve our material condition, we find ourselves caught in the same dream. We are all lost in mind-mist, which has no solidity, for it has no Being.
Awakening means that the world turns inside out, and blossoms into radiant solidity. The quality of Being is what makes the present moment present. It is not an abstraction. The past and future are abstractions, but Being is solid as a diamond in the noonday sun.
Just Being -- not being rich, or famous, or beautiful, but just Being -- is good enough. It is a fullness that cannot be increased by any material advantage. "And God saw that what he had made was very good!" Creation is not good because of its particular form or excellent structure, but because it exists. Creation is saturated with the quality of Being. If you are truly awake, just to Be is magnificent, wondrous, and refreshing.
If we choose to awaken, we choose to Be. We choose to Be 100% now without conflict, without wishing, without hope. We choose to dwell on earth in this body, just as it is. We choose pain and pleasure, just as it comes. We choose to stop whining. When we stop whining, we can delight with infinite gratitude in our very next breath.
No comments:
Post a Comment